The Golf Club (with Preview Gameplay)

Despite having a cushy gig as one of EA’s sports stables, members from developer HB Studios decided to go it alone and create The Golf Club with their expertise. Skill can immediately be spotted in this beautifully sculpted sports game made with the Unity Engine, coming to PC and the latest range of consoles shortly. Through procedural generation, it also will have a chance at infinite golf gameplay. It’s just a few steps away from retaining that pinnacle of sport titles with its very own project.

Didn't mess it up!

Environments can be made up of a few different makes, from simple green lands to more forested areas. Each terrain can be viewed right up to the grass blades that make for a course. Bumps and other inclines in terrain curve smoothly for a fully detailed environment. It’s just spot on, from the athletes animations down to the distinguishable playing fields. While audio is still a work in progress, like much of the game, it does already show the make for commentary reacting dynamically to play styles. A well-placed shot will spark a congratulatory comment, while messing up will cause for some skepticism to arise. Whacking a ball at full force has that sort of hollow noise as well, so everything lines up nicely. Details are important in pure golf simulations and The Golf Club has its priorities set straight.

To further enhance a sense of realism, striking a ball is done by moving the control sticks on the controller. Reeling back, then alternating to the front will hit the ball. Depending on the angle this is done, it will also affect what direction the move goes. For stability, The Golf Club uses an indicating cone, which shows what margin of error a shot can have. Staying inside of the cone will curve the ball less, though it’s still affected by turning and wind direction. Leaving the safety margin will cause a wide slice. As a ball goes into rough terrain, it also becomes harder to gain forward momentum and it will be trickier to stay inside the cone, even with appropriate clubs. For further effects, it’s also possible to spin and curve the ball.

I never had so much fun trying to just put a ball.

While the game doesn’t fully use a controller to its fullest extent yet, playing a few shots quickly becomes self-explanatory, even if the positioning element still requires some tuning. More so than adjustments, it needs a tutorial or training area of some kind.

One of the trickier but most competent aspects in The Golf Club is reserved for putting at the end of each hole. Here, it becomes apparent just how a slight incline in terrain and the accompanying wind can be a powerful modifier to a shot. Reeling back too long will put too much power into a precise move, while not giving it enough will cause it to be affected greatly by gravity. It’s such a fine yet finely crafted balance. It has the exact sense of tension one would expect from an all-or-nothing situation like putting.

What truly sets apart The Golf Club, however, is its quickly spawning procedural generation of entire courses. Furthermore, players are encouraged to make content of their very own with an easily usable track editor. This tool works in two ways: An overall generation and detail work. Both simply work with adjusted sliders to make an area exactly as wanted, without too much fuss. Land can be raised with a pointer for more bumpy roads, greens can be narrowed, water and sand banks can increase the challenge; anything is available with just a flick of a button. It’s missing a few finer parts right now, but even without those, the powerful editor has already crafted several expert courses to enjoy. These can also be rated by the community and they’re divided by skill, so every range of user can go to the field they’re most comfortable with.

It's much less intimidating than it looks at first.

Developer HB Studios’ craftsmanship with the Unity engine makes The Golf Club a sports title that’s likely going to raise heads and set a marker in its genre. Its gameplay is easy to learn and tough to master, while the track editor puts that dynamic on an endless plain to enjoy. Hell, it can even be fun just to toy around with the editor and not even hit one ball. That’s how well this game is developing. Feel free to get more illustrative info in our gameplay commentaries below, one for the gameplay section and one for the editor.

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed (@Daavpuke)